A U.S. Department of Agriculture program called Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities is pouring $3.1 billion into efforts that it states will "expand markets for America’s climate-smart commodities, leverage the greenhouse gas benefits of climate-smart commodity production and provide direct, meaningful benefits to production agriculture, including for small and underserved producers.”

That money is working its way through projects at 141 educational and research institutions, and ultimately into agricultural studies in various communities across the country. At CSUMB that has translated into a $5 million grant that will help the USDA estimate climate impacts for the types of specialty crops grown in this region. 

“We’re one of the only labs in the Central Coast that monitors greenhouse gasses,” CSUMB biology and chemistry professor Arlene Haffa told the Herald. 

Read the full story on the Herald's website.